Friday, August 22, 2008

Study: Bigger Heads = More Aggression

by Jes

The term "fathead" is often used in describing someone who is rather dull, stupid, and has a temper. Thus, when our buddy Wayne forwarded me a story with the headline "Hockey fatheads end up in the penalty box more often", I was pretty much like "D'uh, Big Moose!"

It terms out that the "fatheads", in this case, refer to the actual size of the player's head, and is not just a cute expression.

Results of the study published Wednesday in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society, concluded of the six Canadian-based NHL teams, the faces of the Ottawa Senators are dead giveaways when it comes to predicting how much time players spend in the penalty box.

"We're not saying that Ottawa is more aggressive than any other team. But each individual player's face predicts how much time he had in the box," said Brock University neuroscience researcher Justin Carre.

The researcher devised a lab experiment comparing facial ratios of a group of student volunteers with their aggressiveness while playing a video game.

The measurements, performed with the help of a digital ruler, compare the width of the face at the cheekbones with the height between the bottom of the eyebrows and the upper lip. An unusually wide male face has a ratio of about 2.3, while a relatively narrow face has a ratio of about 1.6.

Among the male students, those with wide faces were more likely to play the video game aggressively, even downright vengefully.

It is easy to dismiss this as bunk science, but there have been studies that show that finger length can often predict how aggressive guys can be. Perhaps having a larger part of the body means more testosterone?

So, in the next advancement in scouting, will we see teams measure head sizes? Maybe measure finger sizes as well. Why just measure fitness levels? Do DNA testing as well!

Looking for a bruiser? Don't get the chap who looks like John Cleese, go for the Brock Lesnar!